A no parking sign stands in the increased surf brought in by Tropical Storm Alberto June 13, 2006 in Cedar Key, Florida.

Improving Communications Around Climate Change

How can scientists better explain the potential hazards of sea-level rise to historic coastal communities?
From Flora de Filipinas by Francisco Manuel Blanco, c.1880-1883

Plant of the Month: Black-eyed Pea

Human relationships to this global crop have been shaped by both violence and resilience.
Fish swimming in underwater kelp forest

Turf Algae and Kelp Forests

Structurally complex kelp forests, pushed beyond their tipping points, are being replaced by mat-like, low-structure turf algae around the world.
A street dog in Varanasi city, India

How Street Dogs Spend their Days

Generally lazy, often friendly, the dogs of India know how to relax.
François André Michaux, “Cotton Wood,” from The North America Sylva, 1817–19.

Plant of the Month: Poplar

Poplar—ubiquitous in timber, landscape design, and Indigenous medicines—holds new promise in recuperating damaged ecosystems.
Mono Lake

The Imperiled Inland Sea

Twenty years ago, scholar W. D. Williams predicted the loss of salt lakes around the world.
An illustration of a bathysphere, 1934

The New Oceanography: More Remote and More Inclusive

The days of celebrity oceanographers romancing the deep are gone, and maybe that’s a good thing.
Frankfurt, Germany

Can We Cool Warming Cities?

The new, hotter normal requires urban planners and city governments to consider heat hazards when creating climate action plans.
Arachis hypogaea, Warren Delano collection of Chinese export paintings of fruits, flowers, and vegetables, ca. 1794–1852, Botany Libraries.

Plant of the Month: Peanut

The peanut, a natural hybrid of two species, originated in Bolivia. It now plays a critical role in food cultures around the world.
Colour lithograph of partial lunar eclipse by Etienne Leopold Trouvelot

Trouvelot’s Total Lunar Eclipse

Immigrant artist Étienne Léopold Trouvelot used his skills to accurately represent the details—and the sublimity—of our solar system.